SEATTLE – June 25, 2014 – Mack Urban today released the design for a new seven story multifamily apartment home located at 800 NE 67th in the Roosevelt residential urban village. The name is a reference to both the Roosevelt District and the former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was a great humanitarian and advocate for fostering community connections.

The project combines thirteen parcels to create a design that emphasizes the neighborhood’s popular pedestrian ambiance with extensive landscaped exterior spaces for a growing urban village. Rather than one large building, the project will be separated into two residential buildings allowing each structure to respond to the adjacent context. The two structures will share a courtyard split by a woodland boardwalk that meanders from one corner of the site to the other. While the courtyard design creates an urban refuge, the rooftop terraces are lively spaces with incredible views to the city and Mt Rainier beyond, creating a balance between active and quiet use.

“Mack Urban takes an interdisciplinary approach to design and uses architecture to make connections with the neighborhood,” said Jim Atkins, Managing Director of Mack Urban. “Eleanor exemplifies that approach. Roosevelt is a highly walkable neighborhood and its proximity to Green Lake makes it a very leafy. Eleanor’s grassy and abundant landscape provides peaceful space with fountains, swales and areas to linger if you are not simply going from point A to point B.”

“Mack Urban gave us a rare opportunity to infuse an urban project with a rich natural environment. The motion of water flows around and through this steeply sloping site, supporting a diversity of plant life and creating a variety of spaces, some very active and others more intimate,” noted Kris Snider, Principal at Hewitt.

Eleanor will include 260 apartments, with an emphasis on comfortable one bedrooms and two-bedroom units for couples and families. There will be two levels of parking underground for a total of 200 stalls, and special areas for bikes with kid trailers and jogging baby strollers. Mack Urban has also incorporated a dog washing station.

Mack Urban has also decided to participate in the City of Seattle’s workforce housing incentive program. “As our neighborhoods become more populated, it’s important that we are building housing for everyone,” stated Atkins. “Eleanor will have units below 80% of the medium income for our working middle class, as well as rare two bedroom units designed specifically with families in mind. With a building called Eleanor, in a neighborhood called Roosevelt – we better be doing more than just the average.”

The development will not include any retail or commercial spaces. “We want residents to support the existing local business along Roosevelt,” said Dayna Dealy, development manager for Mack Urban. “We want to complement the fabric of an already great neighborhood rather than competing in local commerce.”

“Mack Urban was formed to build a portfolio of community-inspired residential developments. This project takes a placemaking approach to design that we would like to emulate in our projects,” added Richard Mack, CEO if Mack Real Estate Group. “It’s our vision and commitment to the neighborhoods in which we partner and invest.”

The design was unanimously approved on January 13, 2014 by the Northeast Design Review Board and construction is anticipated to begin this summer or early fall.

The project will break ground this summer and is anticipated to open in the late spring of 2016. The project team includes general contractor Compass, Runberg Architecture Group, Hewitt for the landscape design, Mercedes Fernandez Interior Design, CPL for structural and civil engineering, Rushing for MEPF engineering design, JRS for building envelope design, O’Brien for sustainability consulting services, SSA acoustic consultant, Pangeo for geotechnical engineering, and Amy Arroyo Interior Design.

About Mack Urban
Mack Urban is a premier West Coast real estate investment and development firm that owns, manages and builds environmentally sensitive, urban infill projects designed to preserve neighborhood character and strengthen communities. The firm focuses on long-term holdings, with investments in diverse asset classes including transit-oriented development, high-rise residential, mixed-use multifamily, adaptive reuse, and student and senior housing.